MRS. BUSH: We had a really great trip, and I want to thank you all
for going with me. I think we really saw a lot of very interesting
things in Africa. One comment that I was struck with was the comment
from the Finance Minister today at the women's roundtable who said that
she didn't want people around the world to think that Africans were
begging for help, and that she thought that was the impression that
people have of Africa, which I don't think people necessarily have the
impression that Africans are begging for help, but I think we do get
from the press the impression that Africans need more help. And I
thought that was a very interesting comment.

I also know that the way PEPFAR -- the President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief -- is set up is to use NGOs or government organizations
that are already set up in the countries that are targeted with PEPFAR
funds, and in a lot of ways, I think that's really a good way to do it.
It doesn't look like the United States is just coming in to tell people
how to use the funds, but instead are using already existing programs
started by people in the countries and manned by the people in those
countries and the organizations that already have a relationship with
the people that they serve.

So I think that's been a part of the way PEPFAR and the Africa
Education Initiative are being run by our government through these other
governments.

Also, I was interested in the comment that one of the people made
in the roundtable about men receiving antiretroviral drugs before women,
and if there are not enough drugs, then women are left out totally. And
I don't know the statistics on what she said, but I do think it's really
important to try to increase antiretroviral treatment for AIDS patients
worldwide as much and as fast as we can so that women and men can
benefit. We know that if women who are of childbearing age can benefit
from antiretroviral drugs, they can decrease the chances of their child
being HIV-positive. So it's really very important, particularly for
women, to get antiretroviral treatment.

Let's see what else. I met with President Obasanjo this morning.
We talked a lot about what my plans were today, what I was going to be
seeing today. And he talked about education in Nigeria. And we also
talked about his role as President of the African Union. He has been
very instrumental in his role as President of the AU and the peace in
the Sudan and Cote d'Ivoire and other places. As he mentioned today,
yesterday there was evidently a flare-up again in the Cote d'Ivoire. It
seems to be an ongoing -- all of these issues seem to be ongoing issues
in Africa. And it's really very important to have a strong African
Union and to be able to use African Union troops in places like Darfur.
I think they're accepted better by other countries there and can be more
effective than troops from the United States, for instance.

And I guess that's it. You all can ask questions.

Q Where are you headed next?

MRS. BUSH: I'm not really sure where I'm going to go next. I'll
travel in the United States, I'm sure, really. My next trip will
probably be to the Gulf Coast. I went -- the last time I went to New
Orleans and Mississippi was December 12th, and I haven't had a chance to
go back since the New Year. So I think that will probably be where I go
next.

I'm happy that a lot of the colleges have opened up again in New
Orleans. A few of the public schools have opened. On the Mississippi
Gulf Coast, of course, some of those communities that were virtually
wiped out have not been able to open schools again, but I hope I can
visit some of the schools that have reopened.

Q Speaking of New Orleans, I want to ask you to react to two
comments that have been made back home while we've been gone. One was
by Mayor Nagin, who said on Martin Luther King Day that "God is mad at
America." That was his way of explaining the hurricane. He also said
that he would like to see New Orleans become, in his words, "chocolate
again," which is to say, predominantly African American. I just
wondered if you could react to those comments. And then there was one
other comment from someone else I wanted to ask you about. Is God mad
at America?

MRS. BUSH: I don't really think I can speak for God, I'm not
really sure. On the other hand, I do know that he wants New Orleans to
be rebuilt, he wants people who lived in New Orleans before to come
back, and I do, too. And I know the President does, too. It's going to
take a long time, and when I was there on December 12th, one of the
council members asked me to tell people if you've moved away to go ahead
and try to get a job, to make a life for yourself, because it's going to
take a couple of years before everyone can move back, before there will
be housing for people. He didn't want people to think he wanted them to
stay away forever, this council member. He just wanted people to try to
build a life for themselves, always with the intention of moving back
when there is housing and when there's a chance for people to come back
and rebuild.

And so I understand Mayor Nagin's desire to have New Orleans be
like it was. Everyone wants New Orleans to be like it was. We want the
music there, we want the great food still, we want that special flavor
that New Orleans had that was wild and diverse and was what makes New
Orleans so interesting.

Q If you do go there, what will you do?

MRS. BUSH: I'll probably visit schools. That's what I'll do next,
because of the schools that are open.

Q The other comment I wanted you to react to was Hillary Clinton
saying that the Republicans run the House of Representatives like a
plantation. She said it on Martin Luther King Day and it caused a bit
of a controversy, and I just wondered what your reaction is to that.

Q Can I ask about your meeting with President Obasanjo? Did the
subject of Charles Taylor come up at all?

MRS. BUSH: I did not bring up the subject of Charles Taylor. I
didn't really think that was my role in a meeting with President
Obasanjo. Other members of the government can bring that up.

I know he knows what the United States' thoughts are and policy is
concerning Charles Taylor.

Q Thank you.

MRS. BUSH: I think it was a really good trip, very sweet. This
morning -- oh, another comment I wanted to make about this morning was
in the roundtable at St. Mary's, the father, the husband and father who
is HIV-negative and was there to support his wife who is positive, and
his children, fortunately are negative; she was able to receive
treatment. That's not usual for Africa. Many men would leave their
wives and their families -- the men's families would take the children
in if that were the case. And I really was moved by his actions; when
she started to talk to tell us her story, he held her hand. And he
really is a model for other men and loving husbands to stay with his
wife under the circumstances, and I was really moved by that.

Q Are we going to see you on more foreign trips by yourself?

MRS. BUSH: I'll do some more trips by myself, I'm sure.

Q How did Barbara enjoy it?

MRS. BUSH: I think Barbara really loved it. Barbara loves Africa,
she really does. She had not been to West Africa before -- she went
with George and me when we went on the only trip the President has been
on to Africa since he's been President, so we've been to Nigeria before,
but obviously not Ghana or Liberia. And she would like to come back to
all of these places when she has a longer time to be there.

Q To work, or what would she do?

MRS. BUSH: Probably to work again or to do something like that or
just to travel. She really loves to travel. She's had the chance to
travel in a lot of African countries.

Q What struck her and you most about all you've seen these last
four days? Was it the AIDS patients?

MRS. BUSH: Sure, of course, that's part of it. But the girls'
education. I don't know if you realized it, the dancers at the model
school where we were today were all dressed in each of the tribes that
make up Nigeria, and each pair of dancers represented a certain tribe.
And the dance was a unity dance, a dance for them to all be together. I
don't know if you could hear the little girl who talked when she talked
about no more slumber, no more sleep, we have to wake up United States,
Africa, Nigeria and educate the girl-child, she said. I don't know if
you heard her say that. And then we had, of course, other -- the little
girl who said the poem had the same message about girls need to be
educated, too.

Q Any tweaks in the policy, the U.S. aid policy that you would
like to suggest -- what you've learned --

MRS. BUSH: I'm very, very proud of our policy. There's a lot of
money being funded to Africa, to all of the PEPFAR countries -- not all
of them are African; Haiti is one of them. And it's a lot of money. I
think it's being spent very effectively, working like we are with
governments and NGOs in ways to really reach people, to get out into the
rural areas. Part of the problems with treatment for people is that
it's very difficult because there's not the infrastructure to get into
the bush, for instance, in Africa, to get people on antiretrovirals or
to be able to have the follow-up that people need when they're being
treated with antiretrovirals. But the U.S. government, through PEPFAR,
is trying to solve some of those problems by reaching deep into the
communities where there are already NGOs or churches or faith-based
groups that can reach people.

And I'm proud of what the United States is doing. I think the
American people would be really proud of the way we're reaching to AIDS
patients or HIV-positive people around the world, as well as to girls
and boys who need education.

Q Do you miss your husband, and have you been in contact with
him?

MRS. BUSH: I do miss him, and I haven't called him. The time
difference has made it so that when I'm home, he would be asleep, or --
I mean, when I'm back at the hotel, or it would be in the middle of the
day and I would think he'd be gone somewhere.

So I haven't talked to him and I do miss him and I'm looking
forward to seeing him tonight.